New Labor Day Attendance Record At State Fair

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (WCCO) — For the second day in a row, record crowds turned up at the Minnesota State Fair, giving the “Great Minnesota Get-Together” a much needed boost after excessive heat kept many people away.

Officials reported Monday’s attendance at 164,277 people, which marks the highest number of people to ever visit the fair on a Labor Day.

More than 236,000 people went to the State Fair on Sunday, beating the single day record from 2010 by about 1,800 people.

The eleventh-hour surge helped somewhat make up for the lack of attendance during last week’s heat wave.

The final numbers for 2013 show 1,731,162 arrived at the fair gates. That’s down from both 2012 (1,788,512) and 2011 (1,769,872). The all-time record was back in 2009, when 1,790,497 showed up.

And now the big cleanup is underway. WCCO was present when they were packing up the huge butter heads. They were packed up so they could be sent to Princess Kay of the Milky Way and the other finalists who competed for the crown.